How to Recover from Holiday Eating

The holidays are always filled with a lot of irresistible food. With how rough the year has been for a lot of people, many of us will likely indulge just to get a sense of normality. But all the holiday eating might derail your weight loss goals and leave you with post-holiday weight gain. Recovering from all that eating will require a proactive plan so here are a few tips to help you out.

Get Moving

Once the holidays are in full swing, it will be much harder to schedule time to exercise. To remedy this, you can start by being active and sneak in some walking throughout the day. You can also invest in a fitness watch to help keep you on track.

If you can get out to exercise, do so in the morning, as soon as you get up. Doing this on an empty stomach will help you burn some fat. This is because most of the glucose in the body will have been consumed or stored away as you sleep and exercising takes advantage of your body’s caloric-deficit to burn some fat. Doing this has the added benefit that you will have extra energy to get through the day.

It is also important that you do not exert yourself too much since you cannot reverse an unhealthy meal using one intense workout session. Doing this will also leave you with bruises or pain in various areas and you might end up hungrier after the workout, which is not helpful at all.

Invest in Some Equipment

Exercising in the morning does not necessarily mean going out for a run. There are a lot of other things you could do to keep the weight off. For example, you could buy a jumping rope or invest in some weights. Having the equipment in your home also increases the chances that you will get some exercises done on the days that you do not want to go outside.

Plan Your Meals

It is also important that you do not skip any meals. Many people think that since they had a big meal the previous night, it is okay to skip breakfast. If you do this, your hunger will come back with a vengeance and you might be tempted to overeat.

To keep hunger pangs at bay, eat when you are hungry and do not skip meals. Once you have had a big breakfast, try to plan meals around a 4-hour cycle and stick to this plan. Eating every four hours ensures you have a structured eating timetable, makes it easier to plan your meals, and keeps your blood sugar levels in check so you don’t feel the urge to snack between meals.

Eat More Fibres and Proteins

If you want to lose weight, it is important to ensure your blood sugar levels are stable. If not, you might end up reaching for a snack or even more food because of hunger pangs. Fibre and proteins are both filling without having too many calories that you need to worry about.

Nuts are a great source of proteins, and they are loaded with lots of ‘good’ fats as well. When you get hungry, try not to eat a full meal before the 4 hours we discussed are up, but instead, reach for some nuts. Additionally, nuts are filling enough that you might find yourself eating a lot less in the evening.

Legumes such as chickpeas and lentils are another great source of protein. They are important because they are a source of both proteins and fibre. This fibre is digested slowly which discourages you from eating more. Additionally, this fibre triggers the release of a molecule called acetate. This molecule is responsible for telling your body and brain that it is time to stop eating.

Go on a Diet

It is likely that you will gain some weight over the holidays and might need to go on a diet to stay on track with your weight loss goals. If you decide to go on a diet after the holidays, a very low-calorie diet should work very well for you. This diet plan ensures your body has enough energy to get through the day and is nutritious enough that your body gets all the nutrients it requires even when you limit the number of calories you consume.

A very low-calorie diet such as the one from Shake That Weight consists of various products including shakes that are made out of calcium casein protein which is digested over 4 hours to reduce hunger pangs and ensure you feel full in between meals. Other tasty meal options from Shake That Weight include their nutritious bars, cereals, porridge, ready meals and soups.

Drink a Lot of Water

During the holiday season, there is naturally a lot of alcohol and salty foods. Both of these dehydrate you so you need to drink plenty of water during the holiday season if you are going to indulge a little. Drink more water than you normally would during the day and remember to drink a glass or two before bed and after you wake up. Your body requires water for basic bodily functions as well as metabolism so you would be doing yourself a disservice by staying dehydrated.

Prepare Some Healthy Meals

You should prepare some healthy meals for the days you will not be indulging in the festivities. Preparing these meals in advance means that you will have them ready and waiting. This has the advantage of discouraging you from reaching out for some unhealthy food but instead to reach for healthier foods that you know will be good for you.

Get Enough Sleep

With everything that goes on during the holidays, it can be difficult to get enough sleep. Not getting enough sleep can affect your hormones, which leads to overeating. Additionally, there is a lot of metabolism going on while you sleep. Overeating and not allowing metabolism to happen as it should is a recipe for weight gain, so ensure you get enough sleep - at least 7 hours - whenever you can.

Watch What You Drink

Although diet soda is advertised as having zero calories, studies have found that artificially sweetened beverages can affect our body’s metabolism which increases appetite and cravings. It is therefore important to avoid soda where you can.

Also, avoid overindulging in alcohol. In addition to the negative social effects they have, alcoholic drinks like beer pack a lot of calories, which means drinking too much or too frequently will lead to weight gain. Wine also contains lots of calories, usually 120 calories per 150-millilitre pour. So, if the wine is flowing, the calories are too.

Increase Your Coffee Intake

Coffee has been hailed as one of the best weight-loss drinks because of its ability to boost metabolism. A cup of coffee has been shown to increase metabolism by up to 11%, with cyclists who took a cup before going out able to exercise for longer. You stand to gain a lot more if you decide not to add any sweetener to your coffee.

Keeping your weight intact during the holidays is often harder than most of us want to admit. There is usually some indulging and this leaves your body in some kind of mess. To get things back to a state of equilibrium, it is important to have a plan on how to recover from all the holiday eating beforehand.